Media Rating Council has announced a public webinar on Friday, February 24th, at 1 PM ET, to be a one-hour session where the they will take you through how this process was developed, why it was developed in the manner it was, the controls that are in place and how accreditation is applied to service the needs of all segments of the advertising and media industries.
This special public session will cover:
- How the accreditation process was developed and how it is applied
- The process controls for accreditation in place
- The basis of the CPA audit that comprises the core of the accreditation process
- How accreditation is voted upon
- How the MRC ensures full industry representation in the accreditation process
To register for this virtual webinar, please visit: MRC Webinar ZOOM Link
Billboard Insider reached out to Chris Cowlbeck, the MRC OOH Executive Committee Chairman and CVO for IBO USA on the importance and impact of the soon to be public OOH Standards for public review.
What is the Media Rating Council and why is it becoming so focused on OOH?
Audiences, impressions and traffic metrics are very simply stated but dastardly complex and supremely confusing when used in everyday conversation – everybody sees a different picture when these words are mentioned. This confusion can be taken advantage of by fast talking data marketers like since the TV game show scandals in the 60’s. The MRC is a quasi-governmental non-profit entity set up by the government to be an autonomous machine to set standards for audience measuring service products and a mechanism to audit the steps the data providers use to massage the data to a form we can understand easily to assist us in selling our ad space. They’ve regulated TV via auditing Nielsen whose ratings have set TV Ad contracts for decades. The technical advances have now made it feasible to get data related to our Billboards and brands are requesting validation of the data we use, to fairly compare with other media in their campaign budgets (Pssst – we want more of that!)
Why should independents be interested in “stuff” we’ve not needed to sell space for a hundred years?
Bottom line first – Brands are buying more Ad space using this stuff, data, and more so, accurate data. Whether we like it or not, computers and the internet have changed society and business and have sped up cycles and piled up mounds of data and statistics in all ways of our lives. I like to think of it like cooks in a kitchen. This “stuff” is being aggregated, sifted, shaken and baked into nice tasty sounding morsels that leave advertisers and brands drooling to make their products more saleable. We of course want to have the best tasting honey to butter the bread. It’s far too easy to jump over the kitchen baking process of the data details for the icing covered cake and that’s where the MRC creates the recipes (Standards) by which the cooks (data providers) bake the products we buy. The auditors are like the county fair judges that know the ingredients, recipes and shortcuts and give the ole Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (Accreditation). This is a very light hearted simplification of the data housing, access and manipulation security, brand awareness, invalid (fake) traffic/data, statistical analysis, disclosure steps, restatement processes and reporting to highlight a few areas. We would all rather eat the cake. Leave the kitchen work to the MRC and focus on selling the cake.
The webinar is free, will be an hour long and will also be published soon thereafter on their website www.MediaRatingCouncil.org
About MRC
The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 comprised of leading television, radio, print and digital media companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 110 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.MediaRatingCouncil.org.
About IBO USA
IBO USA is a networking group of companies that have a common interest in promoting all things of importance to the OOH Industry. We bring together some brilliant minds and cutting-edge technologies and services in our industry in some fun and engaging ways. Billboard operators, vendors, consultants, agencies and advertisers enjoy the fruits of our collective efforts and we have forged wonderful friendships over the years. These relationships have evolved to build the IBO COOP Speedway where the inventory of our operators is combined into a large national footprint that is easy to access. Learn more by calling 580-226-2234, visit IBOUSA.org, YouTube or LinkedIn.
[wpforms id=”9787″]
Paid Advertisement
